I'm curious to know others thoughts about specialization. I currently play both MTTs and HU cash and have had pretty good success over the last year in both. I also have a pretty good full time job that I can't see myself leaving at least until the US regulates online poker and I'm not forced to play on shady offshore sites that may or may not be open or pay you on any given day. Though I've done well at HU cash and really enjoy, it just doesn't give me the satisfaction that grinding MTTs does. There is just something about beating your head into the wall MTT after MTT and hour after hour and then finally seeing your 6+ hour investment come to a close with a win. I love the process and the feeling. The problem is that working 45+ hours a week and grinding 40+ hours a week (another 5+ for studying usually during work) gives me no time for a life and I sleep very little (avg 4-5 hours a night). Being in the Midwest most of the good MTTs don't end until 1-3 AM and I get up at 8 AM 5 days a week.

Should I just make the full transition to HU cash? I have a solid win rate and it's so much easier for me to make money, but for some reason every time I tell myself I'm going to exclusively play HU cash I do so for a few days and then Sunday comes a long and I play 50 MTTs and the next thing I know I'm grinding 20+ MTTs a night again while playing 1 or 2 tables of HU simultaneously. I suppose I'm addicted to the high that you get from MTTs.

I've also began to wonder if I'm stunting my growth in one or both by not fully dedicating myself to 1 thing. I never want to be someone who can only play 1 game, but it seems like the most successful people in poker did so at least for awhile. I pride myself in being good at MTTs, HU cash, 6 & 9 max cash, and even SNGs. I also don't want to only be able to only play NL so about a year ago I started learning PLO w/ mixed results. Basically, I'm all over the place in regards to what I play on any given night and since I've been winning I'm not sure if it's a problem.

I have to do something about my schedule because living off of 5 hour energy shots and coffee is starting to make me feel like complete shit. So what do you guys think? Is it better to dedicate yourself to 1 game (only been playing seriously since 2011-2012) or is it ok to be all over the place? Do you feel I'm costing myself money not specializing?

I've considered a schedule that consists of 3 days of MTTs and 5 days of HU cash with 1 day for studying and 1 day off, but I'm leaning towards putting down the MTT crack pipe every day but Sunday. I've been struggling with this because I'm much better at MTTs (was a top 20 reg on US sites last year) but they make my life unbalanced. I consistently make money playing HU cash, but I have a lot more to learn than I do in MTTs and it makes it tough for me to just abandon ship.

Cliffs:

-Grind both MTTs and HU cash 40 hours a week and work a job 45+ hours a week

-Trying to decide to keep playing both or to specialize

-Profitable at both, but seem to have a psychological addiction to the feeling MTTs give you

-Thinking I'm stunting my growth as a player by not focusing exclusively on 1 thing ( I spend most my time studying MTTs and feel as I move up stakes HU this will come back to haunt me)

-Would like advice on specialization, schedule, etc

-Possibly rambled on for way too log because I've slept 16 hours since Sunday.... which brings us back to why I'm making this thread.